COOS BAY — Local residents will get a chance next week to ask the proponents of the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal on the Coos Bay North Spit questions about the project.

Members of the Coos Bay-North Bend Rotary Club got a question-and-answer test run Tuesday, as Jordan Cove Energy Project manager Bob Braddock paid a visit to their weekly luncheon. Braddock said the LNG project-approval process is solely in the hands of the government. Jordan Cove and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline can’t change anything at this point following the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission release of its draft Environmental Impact Statement on the project.

Most of the Rotarian questions centered around the potential economic impacts of the terminal.

Braddock said Jordan Cove will employ about 60 people. The jobs will pay about $35 an hour, he said, and about two-thirds of employees will be hired from within Oregon. There also would be about 1,000 people employed during construction of the terminal, which  would take about 36 months.

Local residents would be considered for employment, Braddock said, noting the company would need electricians, welders and electronic technicians.

“The people we will hire need to have a mechanical inclination and basic common sense smarts,” he said.

In addition, the energy company will pay local agencies to hire additional staff to fulfill safety measures required by the federal agencies. Braddock said the North Bay Fire Department would receive enough funds to pay 16 full-time firefighters who would work out of a new station built by Jordan Cove on the North Spit. Funds also would be made available to hire some county deputies and a dispatcher.

He also said the LNG terminal would produce about $10 million a year in property taxes, while the portion of the pipeline in Coos County would average about $2.5 million a year.

Braddock conceded that LNG has about a 20 percent larger carbon footprint than natural gas because of the cooling, heating and transportation involved. But he said it is about 20 percent less expensive to import LNG from other countries than to tap natural gas fields domestically.

If all goes according to plan, Braddock said construction on the new terminal could begin as early as next fall.

“Whether that happens or not is still very much up in the air,” he said.

A final decision on the project is expected in late April or early May.

The federal board has two options, either accept the proposal or deny it. There can be no middle ground.

“It’s basically a ‘go’ or ‘no go’ type of decision,” he said.

By the time the federal process runs its course, Braddock expects all county land-use applications to have completed the state appeals process.

Jordan Cove had its application for an LNG terminal approved last fall. Opponents subsequently appealed to the Land Use Board of Appeals, which remanded Coos County’s decision. Around the same time, the LUBA case was appealed to the state Court of Appeals on a separate issue.

The county approved another application to build a marine container terminal on the North Spit shortly after the LNG terminal. It, too, was appealed, but LUBA denied the appeal.

Whether the project moves forward depends upon the potential customers for an LNG import terminal. Braddock noted that two other LNG terminal projects are in the FERC application process on the Columbia River. All three are competing for contracts with LNG shippers from around the Pacific Rim.

“If they get built, we will not get built,” he said. “I guarantee that.”

But Braddock is confident the shippers will choose his company’s site.

“At the end of the day, we believe ours is the best situation,” he said.

(Staff Writer Alexander Rich covers LNG issues for The World. He can be reached by calling 269-1222, ext. 234; or by e-mailing to arich@theworldlink.com.)